


Forward

by xvav (lieutenantaclassi)



Category: RWBY
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Suggestive Themes, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-23 06:24:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6107857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lieutenantaclassi/pseuds/xvav
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Sometimes all you need is a little push in the right direction". That was something that James had kept telling Penny for as long as she could remember.<br/>One day Penny decides that it is her turn to give James a push in return for all the times he helped her find her way. Or maybe it is more of a shove than a simple push. But it is the thought that counts, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forward

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to make a fic out of my second scenario which I wrote on tumblr. Because I can, and because I still haven't had time to structure up chapter 7 of Facing Demons. I've totally missed a deadline for school by six hours, so I shouldn't be writing any ironqrow, but I just can't help it, so here you go!

“Dad, can we go to Qrow’s house today?”

James raised an eyebrow as he looked up from the newspaper he was reading, “Aren’t you and the girls going to a sleepover tomorrow?”

“Uhm, yes, well... but you see! It’s Ruby's birthday today!” Penny exclaimed and smiled before hiccuping, making James eye her suspiciously, “I kind of just want to surprise her before the sleepover!”

“Well… if it _is_ her birthday, then I guess we should go and congratulate her,” James said with a small smile on his face even though he had a feeling that something wasn't quite right. Penny wasn't the best liar but she rarely had any bad intentions, “Do you want to go now?”

“That would be great!”

“Then we’re off. But maybe we should call Qrow and –“

“Already done that!” 

Well, that settled things. And to be honest he didn’t mind at all. Every time Penny wanted to go see Ruby, James would gladly give her a ride and stay around as long as Qrow didn’t mind. And he had never driven James out of the house, in fact he had on several occasions asked James and Penny to stay for dinner. 

Considering James’s tiny crush on Qrow, it was pretty great.

But tiny was definitely the wrong word to describe his crush. If it was just a tiny crush it wouldn’t constantly keep him up at night or make him feel nervous anytime he got really close to Qrow. And a tiny crush would hardly keep making him wake up with an erection thanks to the wet dreams. So it was a _huge_ crush, even though he'd deny it. 

On the way to Qrow’s house Penny asked him if they could make a stop at Port and Oobleck’s Flowers and Seeds For All of Your Needs, it was a mouthful but they did certainly have a lot of nice flowers. And James who hardly could say no to Penny obviously agreed and stopped the car, sighing as he handed Penny a couple of Lien cards and let her run off to get flowers picked out.

James did like Peter and Bartholomew, but he _knew_ that if he went in there he’d get stuck in yet another 20 minute tale about that one time Peter ventured all the way to Haven to bring back a new exotic flower or something like that. And then Bartholomew would undeniably get involved, too, resulting in the conversation going on for even longer as they most likely would start to argue about the details. Finding a good time to leave wasn’t easy once the two of them got going. He had more than once had to excuse himself and say that he had a meeting to attend. 

He had just picked up his phone to pass some time when he noticed that Penny was bouncing out of the store just a mere five minutes after getting in, and she carried a large bouquet of roses in her arms. The little time that had passed was surprising considering that she normally would take a lot of time to decide when arranging gifts for people, but maybe she had planned what to get beforehand.

“Those look lovely,” James commented with a smile on his face as he started the car again, “Did Peter or Bartholomew help you?”

“Bartholomew!” Penny happily said, “He knew exactly what I wanted, and he’s fast! Told me to wish you well and good luck!”

“Good luck?” James questioningly said but Penny didn’t reply, instead she was looking down at the flowers, carefully touching some of the petals.

The rest of the ride was spent in a comfortable silence. Penny seemed to be texting someone, and it was probably Ruby. Ever since they had become friends Penny seemed to use her phone a lot more, constantly texting or calling when they weren’t hanging out. 

Penny was the first one to get out of the car when James had parked. He sighed softly and followed her up to the front porch. James knocked quickly three times, knowing better than trying the broken doorbell (which Qrow had insisted that he was going to get fixed, but six months later James doubted that it would happen). He hardly had time to even lower his arm before Penny suddenly shoved the flowers into his arms.

“Oh, hold these!”

“What? Why –“ James didn’t have time to finish before the front door was opened and he came face to face with Qrow.

“Hi, Qrow!” Penny waved happily at Qrow before putting her hands behind her back and smiling innocently.

“Hey, kid. Nice to see you here,” Qrow grinned at her before turning to look at James. He was just about to greet him as well when he noticed the huge bouquet of roses in James’s arms.

For a while it was as if time was standing still and James didn’t know what to say as Qrow’s gaze quickly flicked between James’s face and the flowers.

“Who are those for?” Qrow dared to ask after a while, trying to sound casual.

“For you!” Penny quickly said before James had a chance to say that they were for Ruby, she glanced over at her father and giggled at his shocked face, “I’ll go hang out with Ruby, have fun!”

And with that James watched how his daughter skipped right past the two of them, taking a sharp turn down the hallway towards Ruby’s room. Penny had played out her role in the plan, now the adults just had to roll with it.

James was still at a loss of words and he could feel his face heating up. If it wasn’t for the fact that Penny was in the house he might just have turned around to leave just so he could avoid rejection and ridicule. But now he was stuck on the porch, staring at Qrow and waiting for him to start laughing.

But surprisingly enough there never came any laughter, instead he was surprised as Qrow took the flowers out of his hands, looked at them and smiled before glancing up at James and chuckling.

“Well, that saved me the trouble of having to buy you flowers, Jimmy.”

Then Qrow stood on the tip of his toes and placed a quick kiss on James’s cheek before grabbing his hand and pulling him into the house.

It took James quite some time to process what had happened. He just followed Qrow into the house and watched as the other man prepared a vase for the flowers.

James had only expected to take a coffee and do some small talk while the girls were hanging out, he had certainly not intended to let Qrow know about his crush. But once he ended up on the couch with Qrow's head in his lap as they watched a movie, he had to admit that things had turned out pretty well. Neither of them watched a lot of the movie though, insteady they just seemed to enjoy  _finally_ being able to be close and touch each other. It was nice after having spent so long trying to deny those kinds of feelings. 

Later that day when Qrow was about to order food for them, the girls announced that they already were heading over for the sleepover at Blake’s house, all of them hurrying to get out of the house with their bags already packed. 

Qrow just shrugged and snorted, handing Ruby some Lien for snacks and food before he turned around to call to order food for him and James.

Yang was the last one to head out, and before leaving she turned towards James and grinned as she threw a small object his way which he caught by reflex. 

James frowned and opened his hand. He couldn’t help sputtering out a couple of mostly incoherent words before quickly looking up at Yang with a shocked expression on his face, it just caused her to laugh loudly. 

“Have fun,” she said and winked at him as she backed out, “…and play safe!”

James didn’t have any time to say anything in return before the door had closed, leaving him alone in the hallway with Qrow still ordering food in the background. Even if she had given him time, he wasn't sure he could have come up with something to say. He was at a complete loss of words.

He looked down once more in disbelief, staring at the condom lying in his hand. Now he realized that all of the girls had been in on the entire thing. It was certainly not Ruby’s birthday. It had all been a setup to get James and Qrow to hook up.

God, how obvious had the two of them been with their pining for each other if all of the girls had noticed?

“Hey, what do you...” Qrow trailed off as he looked exactly where James was looking. After the initial surprise he snorted and playfully nudged James with his elbow, “Huh, flowers _and_ condoms on the first date? That’s quite a leap... and a bit forward of you, Jimmy.”

“It was your niece!” James defensively said and he could feel his face getting flushed again, “Yang threw it at me, I had –“

Of course Qrow had just been trying to joke and wasn’t looking for an explanation, so to shut him up Qrow grabbed James by his shirt and pulled him down for a slow kiss on the lips which instantly made James relax and wrap his arms around Qrow.

“Well, you know…” Qrow lazily said once they parted, he hooked his index fingers through James’s belt loops so he could pull him in even closer, “The girls will be away the entire weekend… we’ve got the place for ourselves. I’m sure the condom will come in handy at some point.”

“And you said I was a bit forward?” James murmured and briefly kissed Qrow again.

Qrow just grinned against James’s lips and chuckled, “Hey, I might not fuck on the first date but maybe on the second one. If you're good.”

“If the flowers and the movie was the first date, does that mean that dinner is the second date?”

Qrow laughed and backed towards the couch, pulling James with him, “I think it counts as the same date.”

“Since when do you adhere to the rules, Qrow?” James asked in disappointment, “Where’s the rebel I've known for so long?”

“Guess I can break a couple of more rules for you,” Qrow smirked and let himself fall backwards into the couch and he pulled James down with him. He could definitely get used to having James on top of him even if he was quite heavy, which wasn't very surprising considering that he was made out of metal as well as flesh and bones, “But first.. food. It will be here in a while. Can't get it on when pizza is on the way.”

“Tease,” James sighed and kissed Qrow’s exposed collarbone, first now he  _really_ appreciated the shirt Qrow was wearing. 

“Oh trust me, you’ve not seen _anything_ yet, Jimmy. I’ll show you a tease.”

Later at night Qrow certainly did show James what a tease he could be, but just maybe James turned out to be the bigger tease, to Qrow’s surprise.

In the end that one condom wasn’t enough for the weekend.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why but I really enjoy the thought of Bartholomew and Peter running a flower shop together, which is why I put that in there. I might actually have them into Facing Demons (otherwise this little story has nothing to do with Facing Demons, just clarifying that!).
> 
> Also, thanks to everyone who has been really nice and giving kudos and comments on my other stories. I mentioned this on tumblr, but you Ironqrow shippers have really given me a boost in confidence about my writing. This is the first time in years that I'm actually really enjoying writing, and having a really good time. I feel as if I've got a bit of a spark back. So thanks for helping me properly get back into something that I love!


End file.
